The New Girl
by nikki-of-stormhold
Summary: There is a new girl at Leopard's Den.......


**This is a piece I have written with certain things to take into account: I have set it before the fall out with Mara, and there is a new character that a fellow fanfic member, HopperB08 has created (Bex), and one whom I have created (Melina).**

"So you're the new girl then!" Melina ran to catch up with the 'new girl'- the topic of much conversation at Leopard's Den in the past few days.

"Yes, I suppose I am." She sighed, looking slightly hacked off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just glad that someone else gets to take my title at last, I'm fed up with being called that- and I've been here for a year." Melina smiled as kindly as she could and tried to slow her new acquaintance down.

"Sorry," she said again. The girl- or woman, closer inspection revealed, slowed almost to a stop and returned the smile slowly.

"Don't worry about it, I've had worse. So you must be… Melina?"

"Mel, yeah. I'm Evan, Grace and Charlotte's teacher. It's nice to finally meet you." They shook hands awkwardly and began to walk slowly again.

"So what bring's you to Africa, or more specifically, to Leopard's Den?" Mel put her hands into the pockets of her beige trousers and squinted across at the house, which was now a fair distance away.

"It's a long story, but in short, I wanted a drastic change from the NHS and English weather. I'm a nurse you see, and I had a friend who came out here. We kept in contact and she sounded so happy- said her skills were changing her own life as well as saving others. Fancied a bit of the same."

Melina nodded her approval.

"That's cool, I admire anyone in the medical profession."

"And your teaching? How does that work out?" Bex looked across at the other woman shyly.

"Oh well, Evan, Grace and Olivia are the best students anyone could ask for, and they are all three of them so different. I came here on a holiday to escape life back home, and overheard them day how much they hated the boring home tutoring all on their own. So I came up with an idea for a new syllabus for them, and showed it to Danny. He liked it so much that he asked me to stay on and teach it to them myself. And it turned out to be the best decision I ever made."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. I have had the best year of my life here."

They stopped at the jeep, parked at the side of the track. Bex placed her heavy looking suitcase into the back and climbed into the front.

"Where are you off to, by the way?" Mel asked, suddenly realizing that she had no idea what Bex was up to.

"I'm just going to move into my new accommodation." She started up the engine.

"Oh, where's that then?"

"Well to tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure. I was just going to drive around the area that Du Plessis circled on the map until I found it."

Mel smiled and reached for the map in the front of the jeep.

"You could be here all day. Ah, that's right next to where I live. Want me to take you there?"

"I don't want to be any trouble."

"Oh don't worry. I live in the cabin next to yours, its no trouble at all. It's really close to the house and the cabins are really lovely. Come on." She jumped into the other side of the truck and put the map away.

"Thanks," Bex smiled appreciatively, and put the truck into gear.

"Here's your fridge, and your cooker etc. Although I hardly ever cook because Georgina and Nomsa are amazing cooks and love to have us all together up at the house to eat large yummy meals. In fact, would you like to join us tonight? Danny and Alice told me to ask you but I forgot until now."

"Er… yeah, that would be nice. I'd like to meet everyone formally."

Bex put her smaller bag on her bed and her large suitcase by the door. The open air veranda of her safari cabin, raised on stilts so that it had a few steps leading up to the balcony type feature was currently engulfed by the afternoon sun.

"This is really for me? Its wonderful. I thought I'd get a tiny room in a big staff block or something."

She looked around her, taking in the natural wood and traditional African furniture. Georgina and Alice had worked hard to prepare the cabin, ready for their new arrival. The new guest cabins were the other side of the house and tucked away down a track, so as to separate the staff and the guests. That left three of the original cabins this side, currently inhabited by various members of the strange family that ran Leopard's Den.

"It really is for you. I'm your neighbor, and the one next to me is Rowan's- Alice's brother. He does all kinds of useful things. Flies helicopters, fixes fences, that sort of thing. He's got quite good at game drive's recently."

Bex smiled.

"Wow, you guys all live so…. Together." She looked a little sad.

"Hey," Mel paused from arranging the crockery on the work top.

"I know what you are thinking- I'll never fit in here, I can't possibly penetrate this close knit little family. But you will. They are the most wonderful of people, all of them. Alice felt like that and now she and Danny are so in love that they rarely notice the world around them. And I did too- I was about to get in a taxi to the airport when they asked me to stay. I just didn't think it was possible. But it is, they will love you. If they hadn't wanted you they wouldn't have asked you to come out here."

Bex smiled appreciatively again, and leant against the work top, gladly accepting a glass of chilled juice.

"I really am grateful for your help today. Thanks for rescuing me!"

Mel laughed.

"Anytime neighbor. I'm next door If you need anything, and we all carry radios so you can get any of us that war. There's one in your truck. So I'll see you at six tonight, at the main house? Got afternoon lessons with Grace and Evan. See you later." She ran down the steps of the cabin and up those into her own cabin. Bex sighed again and looked out at her new surroundings. Perhaps Mel was right- it did seem like heaven on earth here. She guessed she would find out tonight at dinner.

Shall update soon. If anyone cares.

X x x x x x x


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